NewsWrap
for the week ending April 26th, 1997
(As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #474,
distributed 04-28-97)
[Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Graham
Underhill, Rex Wockner, Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon, and anchored by
Cindy Friedman and Brian Nunes.]
U.S. President Bill Clinton this week joined in the re-introduction of the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which would prohibit workplace
discrimination based on sexual orientation. Clinton issued a strong written
statement saying that job discrimination is wrong and that ENDA marked the
next step in the nation's struggle with bigotry. However, although he held a
White House meeting of the bill's leading legislative sponsors and
representatives of its chief lobbying grouup, the national gay and lesbian
advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign, the President neither listed it
on his calendar of public appearances nor allowed any reporters to attend. A
White House aide said the exclusion of reporters was meant to prevent the
distraction of questions on other issues. In September, ENDA became the
first gay and lesbian civil rights measure ever to be discussed on the floor
of either federal legislative chamber, and was defeated in the Senate by a
single vote. Openly gay Congressmember Barney Frank said that although he
was confident the bill would become law, he would not "bet the farm" on its
passage in the current session. Although ENDA exempts the military,
religious organizations and small businesses from its provisions, and
specifically rejects any form of numerical quotas, the anti-gay Family
Research Council is planning a major campaign against it.
If the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and some
other U.S. anti-gay organizations appear to be finding more media visibility
lately, it may be in anticipation of the chance to outshine the Christian
Coalition as the leading conservative spokesgroup. This week, Ralph Reed,
who's served as executive director of the Coalition since its founding 8
years ago, announced that he would be stepping down at the end of August to
run his own political consulting business, Century Strategies. In the words
of one critic, he was "the angelic face on the Christian Coalition's extreme
agenda." Reed made the Coalition a force to be reckoned with in U.S.
politics and a powerful media presence. In his announcement, he counted the
enactment of the anti-gay so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" as one of the
leading achievements of his tenure with the Coalition. Now, he's free to
participate more actively in the process of political campaigns, without the
restrictions of the Coalition's non-profit status. Along with a massive
national membership and even more massive budget, he leaves the Coalition
facing 16 counts of Federal Elections Campaign violations. While the
Coalition is unlikely to find such an extraordinary representative again,
Reed may have an even greater impact in successfully helping to elect still
more conservative candidates.
The Vatican's semi-official newspaper has tried to take as positive a tone
as possible in a series of articles on homosexuality and Christianity. The
14-part series in "L'Osservatore Romano" by Jean-Louis Brugues of the
International Theological Commission concluded this week with the idea that
gays and lesbians could achieve holiness and perhaps even sainthood -- as
long as they did not engage in what was referred to as "genital practices".
Although those "practices" are still considered "sinful" by the Roman
Catholic Church, the article condemned both violence against and contempt for
gays and lesbians. It even pointed out that some priests need to get over
their homophobia. Brugues wrote, "God loves all of us as we are, with our
limits, our peculiarities, which can become paths to holiness."
It was a tough week for Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
following the broadcast of his firm statements that the Church of England
will ordain only sexually abstinent gays and lesbians and will never
recognize same-gender marriages. The day of the broadcast, ten members of
the London direct action group OutRage! ambushed him in his own garden at
Lambeth Castle, having climbed the walls and hidden in the bushes until he
appeared. They surrounded him, bearing posters that read, "Stop Crucifying
Queers". It was an embarrassing moment for the Archbishop, who was showing
around an international group of visiting clergy. OutRage! members said
Carey had refused to meet with representatives of the Lesbian and Gay
Christian Movement and that his remarks would contribute to the victimization
of gays and lesbians within the Church. They left peacefully after 10
minutes at Carey's request.
But that peace didn't last long. The next night, a respected senior
theologian of the Church of England, former Bishop of Salisbury Dr. John
Baker, gave a major address rejecting the Church's positions on gay and
lesbian clergy and marriages. Baker admits he's changed his mind since he
helped develop the Church's current policies as part of a task force in 1991.
He said, "Blessing can flow from adult homosexual relations. They can work
with God for good." He said of homosexually active clergy, "If homosexuality
is simply a fact about themselves which many people have to live with, and
our moral duty as Christians is to make use of it in ways that conduce to
spiritual good and not to evil, then the obvious duty of a priest is to give
example and guidance in using it well." He went on to say, "I cannot see
that married heterosexual clergy have a right to deny their homosexual
brothers and sisters the potential spiritual blessing of a sexual
relationship when they themselves enjoy that blessing." He called for Church
ceremonies for both gay and lesbian unions and same-gender divorces. Carey
encouraged respect for Baker's opinion, while noting it departed
significantly from the Church of England's current teaching.
Zimbabwe celebrated the 17th anniversary of its independence April 18th
with its first president notably absent. What's more, Canaan Banana was not
even invited for the occasion, despite more than 20 years of working
hand-in-glove with current President Robert Mugabe. Former President Banana
is currently under investigation for having sexually assaulted and sexually
harassed the men of his own palace guard during his seven years as president
in the 1980's. Current President Mugabe has been vocal in expressing his
profound disgust for gays and lesbians, despite international protest.
Zhang Yuan, director of the acclaimed gay-themed film "East Palace, West
Palace", may also be notably absent when his movie is screened at the
prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The government of China expressed its
unhappiness with the film by withdrawing his passport when he returned there
April 10th, and has not indicated any intention to allow him to attend the
festival. The film's title refers to public toilets on either side of
Beijing's Tianenmen Square, where a young gay man is harassed and arrested by
a city policeman.
Also missing this week: prosecutions in New South Wales' Wood Commission's
long-running investigation of police corruption and pedophelia. The
Australian state's Supreme Court threw out ten of the Commission's search
warrants, and so cast doubt on what may be all of its hundreds of other
warrants with identical wording. The Commission became a target for gay and
lesbian protest when it extended its investigation into incidents in the
1970's in what was Sydney's only gay bar at the time, because some teenagers
had been present there. The Commission became still more notorious when its
work led a noted judge to take his own life, one of a number of deaths by
suicide and apparent accident which have plagued the investigation.
The European Court of Human Rights this week denied a female-to-male
transsexual paternity of his female partner's children by artificial
insemination. Unlike most other industrialized nations, trannys in Britain
are not allowed to change their birth certificates or to marry someone of
their birth gender. Chromosomal males who are infertile are automatically
granted fatherhood of their wives' children. Stephen Whittle tried to
register as the father of Sarah Rutherford's daughter, to adopt her and to
obtain a court order granting him parental responsibility, but was rejected
at every turn. He claimed British law discriminated against him and
interfered with his family life in violation of Europe's human rights
guarantees. But although the Court recognized Whittle's relationship with
Rutherford as "permanent and stable", it chose to allow Britain discretion to
deal with an area of law that's currently in flux, on the grounds that
changes might lead to unforeseen consequences for the children and the
nation.
Hindus in India this week celebrated an annual ceremony of the "hijra",
male-to-female trannys who are often demeaned as prostitutes and beggars but
are also seen as having special powers to remove bad luck and mediate
disputes. At the Koothandavar festival, the trannys, colorfully dressed as
female brides, are ceremonially married by priests to a male deity, and there
is much joyous dancing, singing and feasting under the full moon. But the
god is already dying, and the next day he is dead. The god is burned in
effigy on a funeral pyre, and the hijra grieve loudly and profoundly.
Dressed in widow's white, they return to their homes. 25,000 people
attended this year's celebration in Koovagam.
And finally ... one member of Tasmania's Legislative Council had an
interesting way of phrasing his objections as the Council considers reform of
Australia's last sodomy law. He said, "The way we're going, legalizing this
and legalizing that -- we might as well legalize bestiality and go the whole
hog."
--------*---------
Sources for this week's report included: The Associated Press; The Globe &
Mail (Toronto); The London Times; The Mirror (London); The New York Times;
The Panafrican News Agency; The Press Association (Britain); Reuters; The
San Francisco Examiner; The Sunday Tasmanian (Hobart); The Sydney
(Australia) Morning Herald; The Telegraph (London); United Press
International; USA Today; Variety; The Washington Post; and cyberpress
releases from the Christian Coalition; Family Research Council; Human
Rights Campaign; Right Wing Watch Online; and The White House.